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May 27, 1930. R. B. HUNTER OPERATING MECHANISM FOR DIMMER RHEOSTATSFiled Dec. 11,

A TTORNE V Patented May 27, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RICHARD IB.HUNTER, 0F MILWAUKEE,

IEENTS, TO CUTLER-HAMMER, OF DELAWARE OPEBATIN G MECHANISM FOR DIMMEBRHEOS'I'ATS Application filed December 11, 1924. Serial No. 755,208.

This invention relates to operating mechanism for dimmer rheostats, andmore particularly to operating mechanism for theatre or lobby dimmers.

The invention has among its objects to provide novel means for effectingcontinuous or repeated operation of a plurality of dimmers or othercontrol devices through predetermined cycles, the operative connectionsfor the dimmers being individually adjustable to enable attainment ofany desired combination of control characteristics including reversal ofthe cycles with respect to each other.

Another object is to provide means for individually adjusting theoperative characteristics of a plurality of dimmers for operationthereof in a predetermined relation, including common means forautomatically effecting continuous operation thereof in saidpredetermined relation.

Another object is to provide driving means for a plurality of controlelements enabling employment of a master operating member adapted to bedriven continuously in one di- 7 rection.

Another object is to provide a plurality of control devices each havinga movable control element, with means enabling joint and simultaneousdrive of said control elements at the same speed or at predeterminedrelative speeds or for. neutralizing said drive with respect to certainof said control elements.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter apear.

The accompanying drawing i lustrates an embodiment of the inventionwhich will now be described, it being understood that the embodimentillustrated is susceptible of modification without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view illustrating somewhatdiagrammatically a plurality of dimmers having my improved operatingmeans associated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the device shown in Fig.- 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail side elevational view of one of the operatingelements shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional line 14 of Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the same illustrate a row of dimmer plates ofa well known type comprising a rheostat 5 having a pivoted contact arm 6mounted thereon which is adapted to sweep over a series of contacts 7connected to a resistance carried by said plate. Contact arms 6 eachhave a pinion 8 fixed thereto and adapted to mesh with a rack member 9.Each of the rack members 9 is provided with a threaded portion 10slidable within an opening 11 in'a bracket or projection 12 on a ring orcollar 13, said threaded portion 10 being held in adjusted position withrespect to rojection 12 by means of cooperating c amping nuts 14 and 15.

Each of the rings 13 is adapted to be supported by a wheel or disk 16which is freely rotatable therewithin, said wheel preferably having anintegral flange 17 at one side thereof and a flange or disk 18 removablysecured to the opposite side thereof by means of suitable screws 19,said flanges being adapted to hold said wheel and ring in assembledrelation. A channel-shaped bearing surface is thus provided for threesides of the ring 13, and said ring is preferably provided with anoil-hole 20 to facilitate lubrication of the contacting surfaces.

Each wheel 16 is provided with three parallel slots 21, 22 and 23, theslots 21 and 22- being adapted to register with screwthreaded openings24 and 25 extending through bosses or projections 26 and 27 adjacent theends of a coupling member 28. Said wheel and coupling are adapted to beclamped together b Y means of bolts 29 and 30, the threaded shanks ofthe latter extending through slots 21 and 22 and into the openings 24and 25 aforedescribed. The headed ends of said bolts are preferablyprovided with washers (as indicated in dotte'd lines at 29 in Fig. 4

The coupling member 28 is in turn supported upon a master operatingshaft 31 and is held in any desired angular position with view on thebroken operating shaft.

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2 messes respect thereto by means of one or more set screws 32penetrating the hub portion 33 of said coupling. The intermediateenlarged slot 23 in wheel 16 permits the aforementinned relativeadjustment of said wheel and coupling member 28 when the parts are inassembled po's'tion. Wheel 16 is preferably cast or formed with anopening 8a to reduce or balance the weight thereof. 7

The master operating shaft 31 is arranged to be continuously drivenunidirectionally by means of an electric motor 35 or other suitabledriving agency, any suitable speed reducing gearing, such as indicatedgenerally at 36 in Figs. 1 and 2, being preferably interposed betweenthe drive and said master Shaft 31 ispreferably provided with bearings37 supported by hearing brackets 38 suitably spaced along said shaft.The various'parts of the device are preferably mounted upon suitablebase members 39 and 40.

The slots 21, 22 and 23 in wheel 16 are so arranged that when the lowerextremities of slots 21 and 22 are moved into engagement with theclamping bolts 29 and 30 the periphery of said wheel will be concentricwith shaft 31, so that upon rotation of said shaft no motion will beimparted to the rack 9 of the rheostat associated therewith,-thusproviding for maintaining the contact arm 6 of one or more of therheostats in any desired position while simultaneously effectingmovement of the contact arms of other of said rheostats throughredetermined cycles. 'A similar result ma be obtained by withdrawing setscrews 32 rom engagement with shaft 31 to permit free rotation of thelatter with respect to the coupling member 28,-the.

wheel 16 in such case being preferably in the angular positionillustrated in Fig. 3 wherein the opemn 34: is located directly belowthe shaft 31.' n the other hand, if said wheel is clamped to cou ling 28so that the upper extremities of sai slots are in engagement with bolts29' and 30, a complete rotation of the shaft 31 will effect one forwardand one reverse movement of the contact arm 6 through substantially 180degrees,-which is the maximum range of movement of said arm. Theadjustment of rack 9 by means of the clamping nuts 14 and 15 is adaptedto compensate for any movement of said rack due to the adjustment of thewheel 16 with respect to the coupling member as just described, topermit initiation of the particular cycle of operation with the contactarm 6 in the desired position.

Assuming each of the wheels 16- to be mounted on and adjusted withrespect to shaft 31 as illustrated in Fig. 3, and the threaded portion10 of rack 9 adjusted with respect to ring 13 as shown in said figure,it

will be apparent that upon rotation of shaft 66 31 identical cycles ofoperation of all the vrheostats will be efieoted. That is to say each ofthe contact arms 6 will move'back and forth across a given number ofresistance contacts, and the contacts at each limit of the oscillatingmovement will be correspondingly located on the respective dimmerplates. If desired, the rack bars 9 may be individually adjusted bymeans of the nuts 14: and 15, so as to vary the resistance values atwhich the individual cycles of operation are initiated, it beingunderstood, however, that the several contact arms 6 will engage a likenumber of contacts during oscillation thereof.

To vary the amplitude of oscillation of the individual contact arms 6with respect to each other the clamping bolts 29 and 30 are loosened andthe wheels 16 thrown ofi center to any desired degree with respect toshaft 31,maximum eccentricity of said wheels providing for maximum sweepof the respective contact arms 6, whereas concentricity of said wheelspermits the respective contact arms to. remain stationary duringmovement of shaft 31, as aforedescribed.

Furthermore, assumin adjustment of the driving connections of th foroperation thereof in given cycles, any of said cycles of operation maybe completely reversed with respect to the others by simply looseningthe set screws 32 and turning the respective coupling members 28 aroundshaft 31 through 180 degrees, thesaid screws of course-being againtightened after such adjustment. By this arrangement the resistancevalue of certain of the rheostats may be increased while simultaneouslydecreasing the resistance value of other of said rheostats.

Obviouslyby the arrangement just described the parts may also be adusted to any position short of a complete reversal of the individual 0cles of operation. While I have shown s ots 21, 22 and 23, extendingonly to one side of the center of wheel 16, .it will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that I may obtain like results by increasingthe length of said slots so that the same will extend a correspondingdistance on the opposite side of the center of said wheel, in which casethe coupling member 28 may be keyed or otherwise permanentl secured toshaft 31.

It is to be un erstood that irrespective of the difference in the lengthof the arcs traversed by the several contact arms 6, each of said armswill complete its predetermined cycle of operation upon each completerotation of drive shaft 31. Thus, assuming adjustment of one rheostatfor o eration of its contact arm 6 through an are 0 substantially 180degrees whereas another rheostat is adjusted for operation of itscontact arm 6 through an arc of 90 degrees, the rate ofresistancevariation of the latter will be substantially half that of the former.

I have thus rovided novel and efiicient means for obtaming continuousand autoi e several rheostats matic operation of a plurality of controlelements the control characteristics of which may be varied with respectto each other to provide practically innumerable relations orcombinations, which combinations may be definitely predetermined by thevarious adjustments aforedescribed.

What 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is;

l, The combination with a master operating shaft adapted to becontinuously driven in one direction through successive cycles, of aplurality of oscillatable rheostat control elements, and means providingindividually adjustable connections, between said shaft and saidelements, said connections providing for maximum or minimum or anyintermediate range of oscillating movement or the respective controlelements during each cycle of operation of said shaf 2. The combinationwith a power driven shaft adapted to be continuously rotated in onedirection through successive cycles, or a plurality of oscillatabledimmer rheostat control elements, and means providing adjustableconnections between said shaft and said elements, said connectionsproviding for varying the range or amplitude of oscillation of saidcontrol elements individually with respect to each other,

3. The combination with a plurality of rheostats each including amovable control element, of operating means for said elements comprisingshalt adapted to be continuous ly rotated unidirectionally throughsuccessive cycles, a plurality of eccentrics on said shalt. and rackmembers to be reciprocated thereby, means for adjusting said eccentricsindividually to vary the degree of reciprocating movement of therespective racks during each complete rotation of said shaft, and meansfor individually adjusting any or" said racks to vary the angularposition of the respective control elements operated thereby withoutettecting the degree of movement said raclrs under the action of saidshalt The combination with a plurality of rheostats each having amovable control. element, and adjustable means for effecting forward andreverse movement of said elements across all or any portion of theactive surfaces of the respective rheostats to provide predeterminedindividual cycles of con trol, said means including a master operatingshaft adapted for continuous movement in one direction throughsuccessive cycles for effecting repeated movement of said elementsjointly through said predetermined cycles, said means further providingfor selectively reversing the direction of movement of any any of saidelements at any point in their respective cycles or operationirrespective of the concurrent direction of movement of other of saidelements.

5. The combination with a plurality of dimmer rheostats havingoscillatable contact elements, of a power driven member continuouslyrotatable through successive cycles for automatically effectingoperation of said oscillatable contact elements jointly and repeat edlythrough predetermined individual cycles, and means providingindividually adjustable operative connections between said member andsaid contact elements for varying the amplitude of said cycles ofoperation of the latter with respect to each other, all of said cyclesof operation being initiated and completed during each complete rotationof said shaft, said adjustable connections further providing forcompletely reversing said individual cycles or operation or" saidcontact elements with respect to each other.

6. The combination with a plurality oi dimmer rheostats havingoscillatable contact elements, of a power driven member continuouslyrotatable through successive cycles for automatically efl'ectingoperation of said oscillatable contact elements jointly and repeatedlythrough predetermined individual cycles, and means providingindividually adjustable operative connections between said member andsaid contact elements for vary ing the amplitude of said cycles ofoperation of the latter with respect to each other, all or said cyclesof operation being initiated and completed during each complete rotationof said shaft, said adjustable connections further providing forcompletely reversing said individual cycles of operationvof said contactelements with respect to each other while maintaining the preselectedamplitudes of the respective cycles,

7. 'lThe combination with a plurality of rheostats eachhaving a movableresistance varying member, of a power driven member continuouslyrotatable unidirectionally through successive cycles, connectionsbetween said power driven member and said resistance varying membersproviding for joint operation of the latter by the former, saidconnections providing for varying the operating speeds of saidresistance varying members individually with respect to each other whilemaintaining substantially constantthe time within which each resistancevarying member goes through a cycle of increasing and/or decreasingresistance.

8. The combination with a plurality of rheostats each having aresistance varying member movable alternately in reverse directionsthroughout a given maximum range, of power driven means operableunidirectionally through successive cycles for concurrently andrepeatedly efi'ecting operation of said resistance varying membersthroughout all or any portion of their respective maximum ranges, andincluding means for independently varying the ranges of movement of saidresistance varying members with respect to each other.

4- nveaeoa 9. The combination with a plurality of rheostats each havinga resistance varying member'movable alternately in reverse directions,of a shaft rotatable unidirectionally 5 through successive cycles,connections between said shaft and said resistance varying members forefiecting joint and continuous operation of the latter throughpreselected individual ranges of movement, said connect-ions providingfor individually varying the respective ranges of movement of saidresist ance varying members, and said connections further providing forinitiation and completion of operation of said resistance varyingmembers through their respectively preselected ranges during eachcomplete rotation of said shaft.

10. The combination With a plurality of rheostats each having anoscillatable resistzo ance varying member carried thereby, oi": a poWerdriven member continuously rotatable unidirectionally through successivecycles, connections between said power driven member and said resistancevarying members for edecting joint and repeated operation of the latterthrough predetermined individual ranges, said connections beingindividually adjustable to provide for selectively varying the ranges ofmovement of said resistance 0 varying members with respect to eachother,

11.. The combination with a plurality of rheostats each having anoscillatable resistance varying member carried thereby oil a l powerdriven member continuously rotatable unidirectionally through successivecycles connections between said power driven rnern= her and saidresistance varying members for efiecting joint and repeated operation ofthe latter through predetermined individual ranges, said connectionsbeing individually adjustable to rovide for selectively varying theranges o movement of said resistance varying members With respect toeach other said connections further providing for et- 4 fecting forwardor reverse movement of any of said resistance varying membersindividually from any point in their respective ranges irrespective ofthe concurrent direction of movement of other of said resistance 59varying members.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto sub scribed my name.

RICHARD BL HUNTER,

